Edmund Burke

The Right Honourable Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator and political philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. He is chiefly remembered for his support of the American colonies in the struggle against King George III that led to the American Revolution, as well as for his strong opposition to the French Revolution. The latter made Burke one of the leading figures within the conservative faction of the Whig party (which he dubbed the "Old Whigs"), in opposition to the pro-revolutionary "New Whigs," led by Charles James Fox. Burke also published philosophical work on aesthetics and founded the Annual Register, a political review. In his day he was considered one of the finest parliamentary orators in Britain.

Notable quotes

• "A state without the means of change is without the means of its conservation."
• "They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance."
• "Custom reconciles us to everything."
• "If we have equity, wisdom, and justice, it will belong to this country; if we have it not, it will not belong to this country."
• "The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded."
• "In my course I have known, and, according to my measure, have co-operated with great men; and I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business."
• "Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions."
• "Neither the few nor the many have a right to act merely by their will, in any matter connected with duty, trust, engagement, or obligation."
• "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
• "Jacobinism is the revolt of the enterprising talents of a country against its property."
• "The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts."
• "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."

It was Burke who first referred to the "great unwashed masses of humanity".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The quotation most often attributed to Burke ("The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", along with its many variants) is not from his writings. See http://www.tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html and http://www.tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~